NVIDIA releases GeForce GTX 780 for $649, claims more power with less fan noise

It's well over a year since the GTX 680 came out, but given how that card was a strong contender it may feel too early for an upgrade. NVIDIA knows the score, which is why it's made a particular point of pitching this year's card at owners of the GTX 580 instead. Upgraders from that GPU are pledged a 70 percent lift in performance, which is about double the gain a GTX 680 owner would see. On the other hand, something more people might notice -- if NVIDIA's slides prove to be accurate -- is a 5dBA drop in noise pollution, as well a new approach to fan control that attracts less attention by varying revs less wildly in response to load. This is surprising given that most of the extra performance in this card stems from more transistors and greater power consumption, but that's what we're told. Feel free to hold out for our round-up of independent reviews or read past the break for further details.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 slide deck

As for those looking for reasons to be swayed from the parallel universe of AMD, NVIDIA's official position is that you'll see an average 30 percent advantage in frame rates at 2,560 x 1,600 and high settings in current game titles over the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition -- pretty much what we'd expect given the generation gap.

Another differentiator is NVIDIA's "GeForce Experience" utility which steps out of beta today and will be a free option with the GTX 780 driver package. This bit of software optimizes detail settings to match your hardware with a "single click" -- a nicety perhaps, but NVIDIA claims the beta version has been downloaded 2.5 million times already, which suggests there's demand. GeForce Experience will be available to all Kepler owners, including those with last year's cards, and so will another utility called Shadowplay, which uses the onboard H.264 encoder to record videos and audio of your gameplay (and commentary via an external mic, should that be required.)

You'll find cold hard specs in the slide deck, of which the most important are probably the following (vs. the GTX 680):

GTX 780 cards should be in stores from today with MSRP of $649 in the States, £549 (inc. VAT) in the UK and 539 euro (exc. VAT) in Europe. As usual, Maingear and Origin PC are also already offering the upgrade in their ready-made systems.

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New NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 GPU Leads the Industry with the Fastest Frame Rates and Super-Smooth Animation for Next Generation Gaming

In addition, NVIDIA has released to production the NVIDIA GeForce Experience™ software, which delivers to GeForce gamers the industry's best gaming drivers, advanced features and optimal playable settings with the convenience of single click operation.

Designed for gaming enthusiasts, the GeForce GTX 780 boasts a massively powerful Kepler GPU with 2,304 cores and 3GB of high-speed GDDR5 memory – each 50 percent more than its predecessor.(1)

The GeForce GTX 780 supports NVIDIA's latest array of gaming technologies, including PhysX® and NVIDIA TXAA™, while the newest GeForce drivers reduce frame time variations to provide smoother frame delivery and a richer overall experience. And for those gamers who demand the very best, NVIDIA SLI® technology – the industry's preeminent multi-GPU solution – scales to deliver even higher levels of performance.

"The GeForce GTX 780 delivers the fastest frame-rate and smoothest animation at a value never before seen in PC gaming," said Scott Herkelman, general manager of the GeForce business unit at NVIDIA. "This level of performance allows gamers to become fully immersed into a game the way the developers originally intended."

To satisfy gamer demands for greater customisation and overclocking options, the GeForce GTX 780 includes NVIDIA GPU Boost™ 2.0 technology, which automatically increases the GPU's clock speeds for enhanced performance, while adding temperature target and fan controls, as well as extra over-voltage headroom and optimisations for advanced water-cooling solutions.

A high-quality cast exterior aluminium frame and high-efficiency vapour chamber cooling – the most sophisticated thermal solution NVIDIA has created – contribute to the exotic design of the card. With GeForce GTX 780, form meets function with uncompromising acoustic performance as well for near silent gaming operation.

"The GeForce GTX 780 thermal solution is the most sophisticated we've ever created," said Andrew Bell, vice president of engineering at NVIDIA. "The human ear detects not just sound intensity, but also sudden variations in noise levels. For this reason, we created brand new adaptive temperature controllers to reduce unnecessary fan speed variations and deliver beautifully silent operation. This makes the GeForce GTX 780 an awesome choice for powering enthusiast-class PCs including desktop gaming towers as well as the new breed of sexy, small form-factor PCs."

Easy Optimisation With NVIDIA GeForce Experience
Available exclusively to GeForce gamers, the beta version of NVIDIA GeForce Experience software has been used by more than 1.5 million people since the beginning of the year. Now released to production, GeForce Experience is the perfect complement to the GeForce GTX 780's raw horsepower.

GeForce Experience automatically configures the 3D setting for each game to ensure the best experience based on the system configuration. It notifies gamers of software updates and automatically installs GeForce Game Ready™ drivers so gamers can maximise the performance of their GeForce GPUs and enjoy the latest PC games the day they are released.

Availability and Pricing
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 GPU is available now from the world's leading add-in card suppliers, including ASUS, EVGA, Gainward, KFA2, Gigabyte, Inno3D, MSI, Palit, PNY, Point of View and Zotac. For more information on where to buy please visit http://www.geforce.co.uk/landing-page/geforce-gtx-780-where-to-buy. Partner participation will vary by region. Pricing is expected to start at £549 inc VAT.
For more information on how GeForce GTX GPUs are dramatically changing the way games are played, visit www.geforce.co.uk. The NVIDIA Flickr page hosts the entire lineup of GeForce product photos.

About NVIDIA
Since 1993, NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) has pioneered the art and science of visual computing. The company's technologies are transforming a world of displays into a world of interactive discovery - for everyone from gamers to scientists, and consumers to enterprise customers. More information at http://nvidianews.nvidia.com and http://blogs.nvidia.com.